U2 hold surprise gig in Berlin subway

Irish rock band U2 have staged a surprise gig in Berlin’s underground train network to promote their new album.

In a move guaranteed to drum up a bit of viral buzz as well as annoy a fair share of commuters, the band jumped off a train in the city’s west to play a three-song set.

The band boarded the train at the city’s Olympic Stadium, before heading along underground line two – literally the ‘U2’ line – to the German Opera station and alighting to play an acoustic gig for 200-odd fans and confused bystanders.

While the video looks like the gig was an impromptu decision by Bono and co., the train had been rented by U2’s label Universal Music and contained a bunch of U2 fans and associates.

The gig went for around 15 minutes, where the band played new song Get Out Of Your Own Way along with hits Sunday Bloody Sunday and One, the latter of which came from their album Achtung Baby which was recorded in Berlin’s Hansa Studios in 1990.

While there might have been a few slightly aggrieved commuters, the stunt has at least been better received than their previous album release – where every single iTunes user got a copy of the album, whether they liked it or not.

The new album, entitled Songs of Experience, was released on December 7 and is already projected to hit No. 1 on the charts.